The City's focus on providing Greater Geelong residents with high quality services has been reinforced by the results of the latest annual Local Government Community Satisfaction Survey.
The City of Greater Geelong has performed as well or significantly higher compared to the state-wide averages on 23 out of 25 service areas.
Respondents to the survey, coordinated by Local Government Victoria, were asked to rate the performance of the City on core measures and the importance and/or performance of service areas.
The survey found that compared to previous years, perceptions of the City's performance improved significantly for waste management, recreational facilities, parking, environmental sustainability and consultation/ engagement.
The City's rating for value for money in services and infrastructure rated higher than the state-wide averages.
Scores for tourism development had declined, likely as a result of Government restrictions in place over the past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the City's tourism development performance was still higher than the state-wide average.
Council's response to the COVID-19 crisis was well regarded by the community, also rating higher than the state-wide average.
Environmental sustainability and planning for growth were areas identified for improvement, in response to the continuing increase in the Greater Geelong population. Waste and traffic management, permits and parking were also identified as areas for improvement.
Overall, the City of Greater Geelong's performance has continued to improve since 2018.
City of Greater Geelong Mayor Stephanie Asher said she was pleased to see the City's Customer service had received the highest rating since 2013, rating significantly higher than the state-wide average.
"Improving our interactions with the community, our customers, has been one of the organisation's main priorities so it is fantastic to see this reflected in the results," Mayor Asher said.
"We have invested in delivering infrastructure and services that offer value for money by genuinely meeting the needs of the community, so it was pleasing to receive a higher score than the state-wide average in this area.
"We recognise there are always areas that we can improve and we will use these results to focus our efforts to continually refine our services to the Greater Geelong community.
"Being a high-performing Council and organisation is one of the four strategic priorities set in our new 'Our Community Plan 2021-25.'
"These survey results provide key indicators for us to ensure we meet this priority over the next four years by continuing to deliver improvements where they are needed the most," Mayor Asher said.
The City's final report and a summary of results are available to view online here.
